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The Hidden Hand Behind the MegaChurches

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Excerpt: “There is a plethora of YouTube videos demonstrating the audacious antics of these Televangelists. Benny Hinn is a prime example along with Creflo Dollar and TD Jakes, but for what its worth, their influence is amazing in its magnetic ability to draw tens of thousands to their assemblies. Additionally, the music in these assemblies changed dramatically to resemble more of a rock concert than that of the more somber predecessors. It’s ironic to see them decry the debauchery of the fallen angels and their sinful ways, while they haughtily display the love of monetary abundance, success and notoriety.” For the full narrative, links and videos please check out my blog

Some current members of the CFR include David Rockefeller, Dick Cheney, Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, mega-church pastor Rick Warren and the CEOs of major corporations such as CBS, Nike, Coca-Cola and Visa.

In addition, the top hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in Honduras, including Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez, actively encouraged and supported the military coup plotters. In addition, the leadership of a number of Protestant fundamentalist churches in Honduras, many with links to right-wing parent bodies in the United States, also supported the coup leaders. Llorens, himself, has close links to the right-wing elements of the Cuban community in southern Florida who supported the coup against Zelaya and have backed similar operations against Chavez in Venezuela, Correa in Ecuador, President Evo Morales in Bolivia, President Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, President Desi Bouterse in Suriname, and President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina.

The U.S. government is the financial and ideological architect of the war against liberation theology. Repression, including the murder of priests, bishops, and catechists, is a predictable outcome of U.S. policy. Support for rightwing fundamentalist churches is another weapon in the LIC arsenal.” Whether or not agents of the U.S. government ordered the massacre of the Jesuits the U.S. is morally and practically responsible for their deaths and those of numerous religious workers. America’s Watch describes how the murder of the Jesuits and religious persecution generally fits into a pattern of psychological war consistent with LIC:

The government’s hostility towards church and relief organizations was particularly pronounced: In the period November 13 — December 14, there were 54 searches of 40 different church facilities and homes of church workers by Salvadoran military and security forces. Dozens of church workers received death threats and fled the country under government order or death threat, dozens more . . . were jailed and abused in detention, and numerous church facilities were ransacked. . . . The symbolic significance of the Army’s murder of the country’s leading academic and religious figures cannot be overstated: the deaths signal that, once again, no one is safe from Army and death squad violence. . . The Bush Administration has taken the position that the Jesuit murders were a dramatic departure from Salvadoran army policy, and represent an opportunity for President Cristiani to demonstrate that the army is not above the law. In our view, the murders were entirely in keeping with Salvador’s ten-year civil war. . . .Those responsible for almost every other instance of egregious abuse against Salvadoran citizens still enjoy absolute immunity.”5

Many writers see the growth of Evangelical Christianity as an American plot fostered by groups like the CIA (Cf. Gifford, 1988).� Reality is, however, far more complex.� American evangelists influence Africans but African religion also influences North Americans (Poewe, 1988 & 1989).� Similarly, Canadian Evangelicals have a considerable impact on other Christians world-wide. Internationally known evangelists like Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944), Leighton Ford, devotional writer Oswald J. Smith (1889-1986) all made significant contributions to the international evangelical movement.�

Similarly, Canadian theologians W. H. Griffith-Thomas (1861-1924) A.B. Winchester (1858-1943), John McNicol (1869-1956) Dyson Hague (1857-1935) William Cavan (1830-1904) and T.T. Shields (1873-1955) made significant contributions to the formation and growth of the Fundamentalist Movement in its initial, more intellectual, stage. (Marsden, 1980; Rawlyk, 1990a:158-171). Institutionally Canadians founded the fast growing Christian and Missionary Alliance (A.B. Simpson, 1843-1919), and the Sudan Interior Mission (R.V. Bingham, 1872-1942), while the Charismatic/Pentecostal Movement received a major boost by the Latter Rain Movement that originated in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, in 1948 (Riss, 1987).

Today two uniquely Canadian educational institutions Regent College, Vancouver, and the Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto, draw a sizable proportion of their students from around the world.� Even more significant is that fact that in Australia, Austria, Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, the United States and several other countries there are now similar institutions explicitly modeled on the Canadian originals.

Haggard said that he believes wholeheartedly in the Bible, but that Christianity has “abandoned the application of the gospel” and that, as a result, too much time is spent on image management and damage control

In particularly disturbing info, Rios Montt was explicitly backed by the CIA–partly because dominionist churches explicitly described themselves as anti-Communist–and the present district church director for Ted Haggard’s New Life Church was the former director of the Bible Institute at El Shaddai (Serrano Elías church).

Included in this category are occult organizations, political groups which maintain secret membership, and also those whose interests span both areas. A prime example of the latter would be the Masonic Lodge P2, which served as the major operational hub for Operation Gladio, one of the longest-running and widest-ranging black ops in history. Ordo Temply Orientis, the Church of Scientology, the Temple of Set, the Roundtable Foundation, and other occult groups were likewise set up by people with strong ties to military and intelligence organizations. Some of this crossover can perhaps simply be ascribed to the personality of intelligence agents and occultists alike who enjoy the feeling of access to secret knowledge and power unknown to the masses. What attracts a certain type to one group might attract them to the other. Clearly though, the secretive nature of many occult organizations does make them useful sites to organize illegal activities out of the public’s view. A more cynical motive on the part of intelligence agencies might be to prey on the number of social outcasts and misfits who are often drawn to occult groups, whether to use them as MKULTRA-style test subjects (see Jonestown) or useful idiots/brainwashed patsies (see Sirhan Sirhan). Last but not least, intelligence agencies have shown a genuine interest over the decades in studying psychic phenomenon for espionage purposes, so keeping tabs on those who dabble in such areas might seem a sensible precaution.

Globally, these large congregations are a significant development in Protestant Christianity.[7] In the United States, the phenomenon has more than quadrupled in the past two decades.[8] It has since spread worldwide. In 2007, five of the ten largest Protestant churches were in South Korea.[9] The largest megachurch in the United States is Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas with more than 40,000 members every weekend and the current largest megachurch in the world is South Korea’s Yoido Full Gospel Church, an Assemblies of God church, with more than 830,000 members as of 2007.[9][10]

If Evangelicals hate tyranny, they should be very wary of becoming tyrants. Nevertheless, Evangelicals will never see themselves as tyrants, because their faith commands them to be “missionaries for Christ”. This mandate engages them in a zero-sum game to convert the country, indeed the whole world, to their faith. Moreover, over the decades they’ve increasingly reached for more and more political power to achieve this goal. This is exactly what ISIS proposes, by trying to establish a global Muslim caliphate. The goal of religious extremists, regardless of faith, is always the same… Dominion.

A Harris County family is suing Second Baptist Church for its alleged role in the sexual assault of a then 12-year-old girl. The lawsuit, filed last week, claims that Second Baptist youth pastor Chad Foster targeted victims under the guise of spiritual leadership.

The researchers found that Asia is home to the largest mega-church in the world, and currently there is no one that rivals in size. With a staggering 480,000 in weekly attendance, Korean Full Igreja do Evangelho got its start in the living room of one of its founding pastors. Headquartered in the capital of Seoul, it has grown into a multi-site megachurch with a branch in the US The organization was founded in 1958 and is affiliated with the Assemblies of God. He was directed by the new senior pastor Hoon Lee since 2008.

These are they who have gone to build outward temples, imprisoning, persecuting and asking people to give, manipulating the gospel to burden people to give money to beautify their stone temples.

You will hear a person say, ‘let’s go to the house of the Lord’ referring to a house of cement sand and stones. A dead house of stones is not a house of the Lord neither a temple. You are the house of the Lord. You are God’s temple.

Joyce Meyer’s ministry is autonomous. It’s not connected to the body of Christ, which is a unified body whose ministers all teach the same doctrines. The leaders of these self-contained mega-churches are competitors of God and of one another.

Everyone is looking for the next political, super-hero leader to move America back to greatness. In the American church, it is much the same. I don’t know that I have ever known a time when the church has been so enamored with mega-churches and super-hero pastors. These tech savvy, mega-leaders make themselves larger than life and secure their enormous following through television, social media, and multi-site satellite congregations where people gather to listen to their message on huge theater sized screens

Nonetheless, the surging popularity of the megachurches among the Christians who make up half of Nigeria’s 170 million population has propelled their preachers into the ranks of the richest people in Africa.

In 2011, Forbes magazine estimated the fortunes of Nigeria’s five richest pastors. Oyedepo topped the list, with an estimated net worth of $150 million.

The influence of the ‘Charismatic’ churches of Ghana and Nigeria cannot be underestimated or ignored. Religion’s impact, in the Ghanaian and Nigerian context, weighs in as a heavyweight force that arguably transcends that of political parties or ethnic affiliation. As these churches seem to understand the potential of ICTs to ‘create and unleash the developmental force of human socio-economic and political networks,’ governments in emerging economies could take note from the ‘Charismatic’ churches as they attempt to overcome the key challenge, as Rao (2005) describes, ‘to align the interests and strengths of various constituents of society and find their appropriate niches in the global information society.’ (ibid., pp. 274-5).

Beyond the high-tech check-in lies a church that is as wired as any business in the country. Inside the 7,095-seat auditorium, the image of Pastor Bill Hybels is projected on large video screens, making him visible to everyone in the crowd. Miss a sermon, and you can catch it later via streaming video on the Web, and then surf over to a church blog to learn more about Gulf Coast relief efforts. They still pass the collection plate at Willow Creek, but they also accept automatic bank drafts. “We can tithe out of a bank account as soon as a check is deposited, so God gets the first fruit,” says Brian McAuliffe, CFO and director of operations.

These tech-savvy institutions are the fastest growing element in religious life in the U.S. “We’re finding about one a week,” says Dave Travis, who tracks megachurches in his role as executive vice president of church innovations at the Leadership Network, a Dallas-based research and consulting group that works with large churches. There have always been large congregations, says Mark Chaves, head of the sociology department at the University of Arizona, where he studies religion, organizations and social movements. But, he adds, the biggest got bigger throughout the 20th century, and the rate of growth has accelerated over the last generation. Historically, Chaves says, the biggest churches haven’t stayed the biggest for very long: “They get overtaken by the next cultural wave of innovation.” Increasingly, innovation is driven by technology, which is a large part of what has allowed megachurches to thrive. Says Travis: “One reason you’ve seen an explosion in megachurches is because of the technological progress that’s been made.”

Lakewood Church has $4 million worth of high-end video equipment in its state-of-the-art production facilities, and a pastor, Joel Osteen, who is a familiar presence on religious television. But it also puts considerable effort into reaching out to individuals and small groups. The touch screens that check in frequent attendees also print out name tags, and the huge e-mail list pushes out targeted information twice a week. “We tell people about speakers and topics and include links to our Web site, information and directions and maps, our new Bible-study program,” says Dodds, the executive director. “We attach photos and links to video of things you might have missed, and also ask people to tell a friend about us, to be marketers for us, because word of mouth is the best tool.”

Senior pastor Kong Hee heads City Harvest Church, one of a growing number of Singapore’s megachurches preaching “prosperity gospel” that blends spiritual and material aspirations.

The churches have ambitions to turn Singapore into a center for evangelical Christianity and to export their faith to the world. Kong was arrested and charged in 2012 with criminal breach of trust and falsifying accounts.

The six church officials were convicted of diverting nearly $37 million in funds to advance the career of Kong’s wife, Ho Yeow Sun.

Serving as the CEOs of their industry, today’s megachurch pastors are not only spiritual leaders, but are business leaders in their communities as they move their churches forward in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Like A Drug: “Many participants used the word “contagious” to describe the feeling of a megachurch service where members arrive hungry for emotional experiences and leave energized. One church member said, “(T)he Holy Spirit goes through the crowd like a football team doing the wave. …Never seen it in any other church.””

Ryle’s Warnings: “There is a quantity of half-truth taught by the modern false teachers: they are incessantly using Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense. There is a morbid craving in the public mind for a more sensuous, ceremonial, sensational, showy worship: men are impatient of inward, invisible heart-work.”

Celebrity culture is another inevitable problem of large churches. This is nothing new, even Paul and Apollos had to deal with it.

The problem is that celebrity culture can quickly deteriorate into factions, cronyism and narcissism. Even if the top leader is humble and thoughtful, that doesn’t mean his supporting leaders will be. Instead, they are often mediocre executives willing to tow the line.

In the worst scenario, micro-celebrity pastors start to take on the characteristics of cult leaders. The people who leave the churches often have harrowing stories of being belittled, pushed around or ignored because they didn’t tow the line.

GQ gets to know Carl Lentz, the man who brought Australian mega-church Hillsong to New York City. Watching Pastor Carl tromp around onstage before 4,000 hipsters in Chelsea boots—saving souls with the gusto of a televangelist but the effortless cool of the guy at the record store—it’s easy to see how one might be sucked in by Pastor Carl’s charisma.

Megachurches, giant congregations that can include up to 50,000 worshippers, have spread across the United States, wooing the faithful with a mixture of prayer and spectacle. The number of these churches has doubled in a decade — and their numbers are set to grow thanks to tough economic times.

You mentioned the National Christian Foundation. I bet most of our readers haven’t heard of that, either. Can you tell us a bit about it?

The NCF was created, back in 1982 or so, to maximize hard right-wing evangelical Christian philanthropic giving. It was so novel and complex, the architects got a special ruling from the IRS, to make sure it was legal. The NCF has multiple overlapping legal entities and holding companies, but at the core is a huge donor-advised fund. The NCF is now the 12th biggest charitable foundation in America that raises money from private sources.

Since its founding, the NCF has given away over $4.3 billion, $2.5 billion of it in the last three years. The NCF gave away $601,841,675 in 2012—and is estimated to have given out $670 million in 2013.

Tucked next to two large hospital complexes on the northern perimeter of Atlanta, NCF operates so far under the public radar that even Parker’s hometown newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has never featured it in an article. But, with more than $450 million in assets, NCF is the sixth-largest donor-advised fund in the nation. As such, NCF serves as a conduit through which benefactors can funnel cash, real estate, stocks, and other valuables to the charities of their choice—and earn a bigger tax break than by giving directly to a private foundation. As a bonus, these funds virtually guarantee anonymity for the benefactor. It usually takes a minimum of $10,000 to open a donor-advised fund with NCF. Although the contributor does suggest where the money should go, the final decision rests with NCF.

In 2014, the National Christian Foundation was the fifteenth largest charity in America. It handed out $859 million during the year, and received more charitable contributions than groups like the American Cancer Society, Harvard University, and Habitat for Humanity. The foundation continues to grow dramatically, as it has since its 1982 creation.

The brainchild of three evangelical financial professionals, NCF was established to “simplify the process of giving, multiply the results, and glorify the Lord.” The founders created one of the first donor-advised funds designed specifically for Christian givers. They also focused on making it easier to donate non-monetary gifts—like an operating business—which most philanthropic organizations find too complex to handle. They are now national leaders in this work.

By streamlining the philanthropic process, connecting Christian donors with the wisdom and charitable choices of other givers, providing up-to-the-minute advice on Christian nonprofits, and offering definitive handling of complicated donations, the National Christian Foundation has become not only one of the most important religious philanthropies in the U.S. but one of the most innovative philanthropic organizations of any sort. Its grants to religious charities now exceed a billion dollars a year, and in 2015 reached a total of $6 billion since the organization’s founding.

When Angelus Temple opened in Los Angeles in 1923 with seating for 5,300, the megachurch was born. An evangelical Christian congregation led by a charismaticpastor, committed to welcoming new believers, Bible-based but lacking conventional denominational boundaries, the new church drew huge crowds. Lakewood Church, founded in Houston in 1959, was another early example of the type. It was theologically conservative, racially inclusive, and popular from the start. By 1979 Lakewood was attracting more than 5,000 people to its services; today it is America’s largest church, with average weekly attendance of 43,000. (Megachurches are among the most integrated institutions in the U.S., averaging a 20-percent-minority mix of congregants, while Lakewood is 40 percent white, 30 percent black, 30 percent Hispanic.)

Megachurches are conventionally defined as those attended by at least 2,000 congregants per week. There are now 1,300 such churches in the U.S. (up from just 50 in 1970), housing about a tenth of all U.S. churchgoers, and they are continuing to expand in both size and influence. They include prominent institutions like the Willow Creek Church led by Bill Hybels, the Saddleback Church under Rick Warren, the McLean Bible Church founded by Lon Solomon, and the Potter’s House pastored by T. D. Jakes.

This vast expansion was driven not just by congregational donors but also by broader philanthropy. Bob Buford built a large network of cable television stations, but he was also a devoted Christian and in his mid-50s felt strongly drawn into the world of nonprofits and church-building. Buford had become close friends with famed management theorist Peter Drucker, who viewed America’s vigorous civil society of churches, charities, and helping organizations like the Salvation Army as secrets to the country’s success, and vital buffers between private interests and the state. Together they discussed what became the Leadership Network—a group devoted to helping the pastors of fast-growing churches thrive even more. Leaders of new churches with a thousand members or above would be brought together with similar peers so they could learn from each other, and be taught essentials of excellent management and oversight.

Bill Hybels and Rick Warren were just two of many church founders who benefited from Leadership Network training and resources as they grew their congregations to over 20,000 members. Bob Buford also joined with philanthropist Phil Anschutz to finance the Burning Bush Fund, which concentrated on planting new churches and cultivating new leaders to open churches. Pastors like Tim Keller, Larry Osborne, and Greg Surratt were aided by the fund as they built thriving, multi-campus evangelical churches. In a 1998 Forbes interview, Peter Drucker characterized megachurches as “surely the most important social phenomenon in American society in the last 30 years.”

A Catalyst that Fostered a Movement: Thoughts on Bob Buford and Leadership Network Meet one of the most influential men in the church growth movement: Bob Buford. | ED STETZER

What you might not know is how that took place behind the scenes. You might not know how these teaching churches and their pastors became the new locus of learning for churches around the world—and how much of it happened because of Bob Buford, a quiet philanthropist in Texas, and his mentor, Peter Drucker.

Buford became wealthy in the cable television business and then decided to make a difference with his money. It was his influence that led to the rise of significant teaching churches, which has essentially replaced the Church Growth Movement and remapped evangelicalism and beyond.

As the Church Growth Movement was declining, new ideas, like those of Calvary Chapel and Vineyard, were on the rise. They changed the ways that churches worshipped and approached culture. Soon other churches took the new approach to worship and culture, and started to add a new approach to leadership.

About that time, Bob Buford decided to find what he called “islands of strength” in the church and invest in them. The hope was that it would lead to an exponential return. The investment paid off.

Buford helped take a new approach to ministry, a reinvention of American Protestantism, and fused it with leadership savvy, the principles he learned from Peter Drucker. Of course, Drucker was interested in the megachurch himself. He once told Forbes magazine, “pastoral megachurches are surely the most important social phenomenon in American society in the last thirty years.”

Together, Buford and Drucker made a huge impact on the direction of the church. Simply put, your church probably sings like a Calvary Chapel, but is led like a Saddleback. Those two men are part of the reason why.

An academy personally authorized and named by Peter F. Drucker in Asia.A non-profit social enterprise with the mission of keeping alive Drucker’smanagement legacy. China’s most authoritative organization spreading Drucker’s management philosophy.

1999, with the guidance and involvement of Peter F. Drucker himself, Minglo Shao,Board Chairman of Bright China Group, founded the Bright China ManagementInstitute (BCMI). It was a social enterprise established soley for the research and promotion of the management insights of Dr. Drucker.

In 2005, Dr. Drucker personally authorized Bright China to use the name Peter F.Drucker Academy in China. On April 18, 2006, the Drucker family officially granted Bright China the right to use Drucker brand exclusively in all training programs and certifications in China.

In 2006, the name of BCMI was officially changed to Peter F. Drucker Academy (DA).DA continues its mission to impart the Drucker legacy to Chinese knowledge workersand facilitate their study and practice of Drucker’s management principles. In the same year, DA was registered in Hong Kong as a non-profit organization: an extension of Beijing’s DA with the identical mission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnFlD4vKdBc

The Hidden Hand Behind Mega Churches

Greetings,

The title of this video/blog is “The Hidden Hand Behind Mega Churches.”

Mega churches for the most part are a huge money enterprise/ business. Founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard said in 1948 that “You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, start a religion.”

It certainly is a phenomenon and much more common today than in the past. Up until now, the Catholic Church with its many diocese and archdiocese around the globe seemed to have had captured the most fervent and committed followers. The “Church” as it is called was ruled by a Holy Papacy, a cardinal who would ascend to the throne of the Church in succession of the one preceding it. This succession of “rulers” over the Church was solidified in 325AD at the Council of Nicea, the first ecumenical council of the Christian church, where many policies were established including the term “Catholic”. Religious writings heretofore considered inspired by God were gathered together under the cloak of a seeming conspiracy that determined which were to be included in the Holy Bible and which ones were to be discarded. Pagan rituals and festivals were incorporated as well in order to induce and entice the so-called pagans into the fold.

“Above all, Constantine’s achievement was perhaps greatest in social and cultural Roman Empire. Emerging from it in the course of the 4th century were two developments that contributed fundamentally to the nature of Byzantine and Western medieval culture: the growth of a specifically Christian, biblical culture that took its place beside the traditional Classical culture of the upper classes; and the extension of new forms of religious patronage between the secular governing classes and bishops, Christian intellectuals and holy men. Constantine left much for his successors to do, but it was his personal choice made in 312 that determined the emergence of the Roman Empire as a Christian state. It is not hard to see why Eusebius regarded Constantine’s reign as the fulfillment of divine providence—nor to concede the force of Constantine’s assessment of his own role as that of the 13th Apostle.”

history. It was the development, after his example, of a Christianized imperial governing class that, together with his dynastic success, most firmly entrenched the privileged position of Christianity; and it was this movement of fashion, rather than the enforcement of any program of legislation, that was the basis of the Christianization of the

We need only to see the status, rank and appeal of the Catholic Church today to grasp its impact on the global stage since 325 AD.

Of course there were many schisms, wars and persecutions. Conflict between the Roman Christians and the European Christians came to a head during the Protestant Reformation of the 1500’s, with several reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII rising out of the midst including King James, Calvin, Luther and others. People began to question the Papacy and its proclaimed infallible power over all aspects of life that had been wielded for at least 10 centuries. Corruption and ineptitude of the Papacy, the priests and clergy even among the believers became so rampant it was time for a change in fact time for a revolution. The wealth of the Church was unspeakable and came by thru some unscrupulous practices, however, to this day it still remains the wealthy religious entity in the world. Headquartered in Rome, it has consolidated the masses to the point where dignitaries and heads of state come from around the globe to pay their respects to the Pope and his mighty guard of soldiers, priests, cardinals and clergymen.

But somewhere along the way, the schism between the Catholics and the Protestants took an even more interesting turn.

“The Protestant Reformationwas the 16th-century religious, political, intellectual and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. They argued for a religious and political redistribution of power into the hands of Bible- and pamphlet-reading pastors and princes. The disruption triggered wars, persecutions and the so-called Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church’s delayed but forceful response to the Protestants.”

Around the world we see huge edifices of worship, some even having been subdued by the advance of Islam changing Cathedrals into mosques or leveling cathedrals and erecting mosques in their place. But slowly but surely, the Protestant arm of Christian believers has grown exponentially and has expressed itself through many forms. Today, their churches rival the Cathedrals and mosques and their congregations are expanding rapidly.

Some world churches have sprung up from the ashes such as the Council of World Churches. The World Council of Churches is a Christian organization dedicated to the search for Christian unity. It is a voluntary fellowship (association) of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour.

Apostolic Church “There are several groups which call themselves “Apostolic.” Generally speaking, these churches all seek to uphold or return to the teachings and practices of the first church. Some of these churches hold to Pentecostal doctrine, while some do not. The largest groups are probably the Apostolic Church (or Apostolic Faith Church), which was born out of the Welsh revival of 1904-1905; and the New Apostolic Church International, which is traced back to the British revivals of the 1830s.

Much of the theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church corresponds to common Protestant Christian teachings, such as the Trinity and the infallibility of Scripture. Distinctive teachings include the unconscious state of the dead and the doctrine of an investigative judgment. The church is known for its emphasis on diet and health, its “holistic” understanding of the person,[7] promotion of religious liberty, and its conservative principles and lifestyle.[8]

The world church is governed by a General Conference, with smaller regions administered by divisions, union conferences, and local conferences. It currently has a worldwide baptized membership of over 20 million people, and 25 million adherents.[9][10] As of May 2007, it was the twelfth-largest religious body in the world,[11] and the sixth-largest highly international religious body.[12] It is ethnically and culturally diverse, and maintains a missionary presence in over 200 countries and territories.[2][13]

All in All, the Catholic Church still out rivals all the others with is 1.2 billion people worldwide according to Vatican figures. More than 40% of the world’s Catholics live in Latin America – but Africa has seen the biggest growth in Catholic congregations in recent years.

There are too many to list here. We will skip the “New Age” movement which also has tentacles stretching around the world and has its own way of soliciting funds from its believers, initiates, associates and cohorts. Otherwise we will never get to the hidden hand behind them all.

So, let’s go back a bit and focus on the topic of this video, the phenomenon called the Mega Church.

It is quite an interesting phenomenon especially when you look at the amount of money that streams into them yearly. Since in the US in particular, churches are tax exempt, there is little oversight as to what a church can do, what a church is and what the congregation is responsible for. In the beginning the concept of Church was a small gathering of folks who came together to share a worship service, with others of like mind. Over time, these small gatherings would expand to larger ones and require a large “meeting hall”. Meeting halls evolved to large buildings, then cathedrals and now massive stadium size buildings where worshippers visit, hearts in their hands and of course, money in their pockets.

They gather around a charismatic “preacher”, “reverend”, “pastor” etc. and seek his auspices and sometimes intercession between them and “Glory”. They willfully give up their earnings and savings for the promise. The advent of the Televangelists has taken this operation to a whole new level.

To quote a commenter by the name of Barbara Bush:

“What I find ironic is how much the megachurches and their preachers borrowed from rock stars. The stadiums, the laser light shows, the big screen onstage, the audience participation (The ultra loud “Are you ready to rock and roll?” shouted from the stage has become “Are you ready to accept Jesus as your savior?” and the flicking of cigarette lighters has become the waving of arms). And the preachers get plenty of ass, just like the rock stars of the 60s and 70s. Fundamentalist preachers denounced rock and roll as the devil’s music but rock really worked out quite well for them, didn’t it?”

In brief, this document outlines the impact of Liberation Theology particularly as it relates to countries in South America that are ruled by so-called dictators. It appears to be an extension or offshoot of the Catholic Church or in a sense a reformation of the commonly available Church system inculcating the need for liberation from poverty, dictatorial rule, inequality across the social structure of the communities. Some even incorporate a violent take over of the government. While the CIA was apprehensive of its radical implications that stated that the US and other western capitalists countries were a major threat to these 3rd world nations, it also can see the advantage of these take overs and the establishment of a more democratic society. Here it can be seen that the CIA can infiltrate and manipulate according to the interests of the US. Funding certain revolutions and regime change, funneling weapons and money into these radicalized New Church goers, and on the other hand subduing and or infiltrating to align these grassroots movements to be more in accord with core principals of western democracy in particular, capitalism. When the move towards liberation includes the nationalization of resources within the countries, then a full scale divestment, sanctions or even all out war is called for.

Guerillas are created in these Churches that foster liberation theology, so again, the need for influencing both sides become even more apparent. Here we can reference the “Church Committee” and Oliver North and the impact that Oliver North had on the Sandinistas and the more successful Contras. While it may appear that this was all about religious liberation from the oppressive Catholic established church, it actually devolved into the destabilization of many countries in south America and the total ostracizing of Cuba as Castro was a strong proponent of the liberation theology. In addition it has become evident that the Papacy also participated in CIA operations especially in South America by receiving direct contributions/funding, ignoring the many atrocities perpetrated by the “liberation theology” militias or encouraging these militias. Consequently we see the CIA funding both sides of the conflict.

So where does the CIA fit in the Christian Right Fundamentalist Prosperity Doctrine that has taken the world by storm?

Further research reveals that the fundamentalist/evangelical movements in South America were a precursor to its advent and perpetuation in North America. The experiment included but is not all exclusive of mind control cointel psyops, drug trafficking, pedophilia and child molestations, homosexuality and ramped materialism particularly as these preachers amass huge sums of money for houses, cars, private jets, luxury vacations, etc. It is curious to note that the average member of these congregations did not/do not have access to the same wealth and is some instances have lost prized possessions in their effort to gain access to the “Holy Crown” of golden glory promised to them by these preachers.

Behind the scenes these preachers/evangelists/prosperity doctrine teachers are shrouded under various laws suits, tax evasion and other criminal activities mirroring in some instances the Mafia. They purport Zionist dispensationalism and often appear facist in their explosive sermons about who actually deserves the kingdom of heaven and who does not.

Deep inside the coven of these doctrines is an exceptionalism that may be tempting and appealing to any of those who may be outside of the fold and in order to enter the fold you must pay your fair share of tythes and then some.

These churches are hosted in huge stadium like facilties, with dancing, bands, loud music and lots of cheering while the preacher booms through his expensive sound equipment messages of prosperity and abundance that every one is supposedly entitled to. Though many of them if not most of them, seldom see the wealth that their preachers boast of having themselves. In fact, they are told if they don’t have it, they must be doing something wrong.

It is a well known fact that CIA operations are supposed to be done abroad, while the FBI, DHS and various other intelligence agencies work in the United States. However, the link between what started in South and Central America through Billy Graham, Falwell, AmeriCares, and a host of other evangelical/fundamentalist operations have stretched its tentacles into the United States as can be seen with the connection between these organizations on mainland USA and South and Central America. Some of these even harken back to Rev. Moon and even futher back to Billy Graham who has been purported to be not only a CIA asset but a freemason.

This research open up a rabbit hole that I had never expected to go down. Through declassified CIA documents, to the destabilization of Central and South America with the “liberation theology” and full circle to the movement of Mega Churches here in the US.

One of the most interesting discoveries was finding out who the riches pastors/preachers were in 2017, and on that list were 4 preachers from Nigeria. It seems that the concept of the Mega church has spread from the south to the north to the West and now Africans in Nigeria are rivaling the movement.

One outstanding example of this phenomenon of the material wealth that these preachers acquire is that of Edir Macedo, who establish the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, in Rio de Janeiro who is a billionaire from Brazil who has several businesses that include radios stations where he is broadcast as far as Australia. With all of that he has a militia of some 3 thousand men who are dedicated to the battle for the Lord. Several abuses have been related to his establishment that include, murder, child abuse and fraud, but he has been able to avoid an serious prosecution. It is believed to be CIA front with connections to the Mossad.

The current Mega Church leaders use a mix of New Age philosophy while claiming to be strong proponents of the Original bible text. They have become active in politics particularly the Republican party and were strong backers of the Donald Trump campaign. Springing out of the Bible belt with Billy Graham and stretching to South America it ricochet back and pulled those seeking Liberation from poverty, changed the slogans to Prosperity and fostered their evangelism through elaborate displays on television. Establishing the TBN these evangelists catered to physical as well as viewing audiences from around the country and around the globe. Seeking to have what they were manipulated to believe that Jesus did not want them to be poor, therefore, the Kingdom should be enjoyed here on Earth as well as in the Hereafter, although the hereafter became more and more an obscure goal as the riches promised in the present were displayed audaciously by these Televangelists.

There is a plethora of YouTube videos demonstrating the audacious antics of these Televangelists. Benny Hinn is a prime example along with Creflo Dollar and TD Jakes, but for what its worth, their influence is amazing in its magnetic ability to draw tens of thousands to their assemblies. Additionally, the music in these assemblies changed dramatically to resemble more of a rock concert than that of the more somber predecessors. It’s ironic to see them decry the debauchery of the fallen angels and their sinful ways, while they haughtily display the love of monetary abundance, success and notoriety.

These folks have pr managers, brands, marketing strategies, billboards and campaigns that all resemble what any modern day corporation would engage in in order to “sell” their product. The difference being that these folks are able to skirt around many laws and tax levies as they claim to be a “religious” organization. It is quite a curious phenomenon to behold.

It would seem that infiltration, manipulation and even leading some of these enclaves of riches would be the order of the day for any intelligence agency in the US. These institutions are a perfect cover for criminal activities as the leaders of these organizations have become so corrupted they have made themselves likely candidates for blackmail and subversion.

We have seen some of these individuals face the “music” as claims of pedophilia, drug abuse, sexual harassment, tax evasion, dysfunctional families, HIV-AIDS and even murder in some cases.

How are these individuals allowed to rise to such positions of power and influence over thousands and sometimes millions of people worldwide? How are they able to fly around in private jets, live in sprawling mansions, take expensive vacations, and even solicit prostitutes and father children out of wed lock and maintain their positions of preachers/pastors/healers, etc?

My research indicates that they are covers or fronts for secretive operations. The secrecy of these operations make it hard to pinpoint succinctly what and how they are conducted, but it does become apparent when from time to time, one of these individuals is “outed” by the media, for whatever reason. One can only surmise that they are outed because at some point they went beyond the pale and stepped on the wrong toes.

Clearly, there is a hidden hand behind these groups. This hand has many fingers that are manipulating many pies. From what I can surmise, the biggest and most powerful finger, is that of mind control experiment leading to a NWO type of homogeneous religious expression that crosses continents and connects people of all walks of life into this enormous fold of single minded, easily manipulated masses that will do the bidding of their leaders. These leaders are given marching orders and all must comply. Unbeknownst to the average stadium church going person, they are being drawn into a grand experiment that will render them into some type of symbiotic bondage. They will give up their own intuitive ability to discern and follow their leader to the slaughter as it were, like in the case of Jim Jones.

These charismatic leaders are specifically selected for their ability to hone the masses into a trance like state where they can implant various messages and commands that these stadium going folks will follow without question. This is clearly seen as they offer these demigods there last dime for the advancements they are promised.

So, apart from the crowd control that happens at the rock concerts and sports stadiums, here we have crowd control under the auspices of religion and receiving religious blessings and glory from the Rock Star, Super Hero Evangelist. In essence, the powers that be have covered all the basis of human experience enmasse and are steadily testing and retesting its impact on the human psyche for their ultimate agenda of total control. They are able to seed the minds of the masses around the globe through this religious infiltration. They are able to destabilize governments, uproot indigenous practices, forestall communist threat, install socialistic agendas, hide nefarious activities, traffic drugs and humans, set up dictators who are amenable to capitalism, remove those who resist their marching orders, launder money through front churches, and totally divest all participants of any sovereignty, traumatize others and acquire accolades and Peace Prizes in the process.

In a book called “War In Heaven” it states…. By Kyle Griffith

“Religious mind control is practiced in many different places besides religious services. The Theocrats often practice it on the crowds:

attending sporting events

in gambling casinos

at political rallies

during musical concerts of many types

in a number of other places.

Whenever many people enter an intense emotional state at the same time and have their collective attention focused on a common objective, Theocratic spirits can use subconscious telepathic manipulation to put them into a religious trance and reprogram their minds with religious mind control.”

Please understand, that at the risk of writing a doctoral thesis on this topic, there are several things that I just could not include in these videos. But suffice it to say, that I do hope that you were able to get some idea of what is happening and how the hidden hand works behind the scenes of this Mega Church Phenomenon.